Railway-switch



(No- Model.) 3 SheetsSheet 1.

L; M GARPIELD RAILWAY SWITCH.

No. 424,968.- Patented Apr 8, 1890.

m ng (No Model.) I 3 Sheets-Sheet 2. L. M. GARFIELD RAILWAY SWITCH.

No. 424,968. Patented Apr. 8, 1890.

w mi WITNESSES- (No Model.) 3 Sheetsheet 3.

L. M. GARFIELD.

RAILWAY SWITCH.

" No. 424,968. Patented Apr. 8, 1890.

FIGE! \A/IT EEIEEE- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LYMAN M. GARFIELD, OF XENIA, OHIO.

RAILWAY-SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 424,968, dated April 8,1890.

Application filed October 17, 1889. Serial No. 327,355. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LYMAN M. GARFIELD, of Xenia, in the county of Greeneand State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRailway-Switches, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to railway-switches, and its object is to furnishsuch an arrangement of the movable rails and their operating parts thatthe movable rails may be brought into such connection with thestationary rails by the same set of switch-irons or bridles and by onethrow of the switchlever as to make a continuous main track and twosidings on one side of the main track, or a continuous track of a maintrack and siding on either side of the track, or two continuous trackscomposed of the main track and a siding on one side and the othercomposed of a main track or siding on the other side.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating themain track con: tinuous or unbroken and two sidings leading out from themain track, and both sidings on the same side of the main track. Fig. 2illustrates the positions of the diiferent tracks when the switch hasbeen thrown to connect the main track 011 the left with the siding onthe right. Fig. 3 illustrates the positions of the different tracks whenthe main track on the right is connected with the siding on the left.Fig. 4 illustrates the main track continuous or unbroken and two sidingsleading outward from both sides of the main track. Fig. 5 illustratesthe positions of the different tracks when the switch has been thrown toconnect the main track on the left with the siding on the right and themain track on the right with the siding on the left.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, A A are the parallel stationary rails ofthe main track. B B are the parallel stationary rails of the siding. O Oare the movable rails of the main track. ing, and a b c d are theadjacent ends, respectively, of the rails A, B, O, and D.

The movable rails O O and D D are all connected by cross-bars E E, andare all adapted to slide or swing laterally in the usual manner, so thatby joining the adjacent ends of D D are the movable rails of the sidthestationary and movable rails the tracks will be continuous. \Vhen thetracks are in the position shown in Fig. 1, the ends a and 0 will bejoined, the main tracks A and C will be continuous and unbroken, and thetwo sidings B and D, which diverge from the main tracks in oppositedirections, will be connected at their converging ends I) and d. Thisposition of the parts will enable a train or car to move along the maintracks A and O or along the siding B and D from one to another. "Whenthe switchman has thrown the movable rails so that the ends I) and c arejoined and the rails of the main track 0 O are continuous with thestationary rails 13 B of the siding, as shown in Fig. 2, a train or carcan move along the main tracks 0 on the left to the siding B on theright, or from the siding B on the right to the main track O on theleft. When the movable rails have been thrown by the switchman so thatthe ends a and d are joined and the rails of the siding D D arecontinuous with the stationary rails A A of the ,main track, as shown inFig. 3, a train or car can move along from the main track Aon the rightto the movable siding D on the left, or from the movable siding D on theleft to the main track A on the right. WVhen the tracks are in theposition shown in Fig. 4, with the stationary siding E E diverging fromone side of the main track and the movable siding D diverging from theother side and with the ends a and c joined, the main tracks A and Cwill be continuous and unbroken and the switch will be open,disconnecting the other tracks. When the movable rails have been thrownby the switchman so that the ends 6 and c are joined and the ends Cl,and d are also joined, the movable main rails C will be continuous withthe stationary rails of the siding E on one side of the track, and themovable rails of the siding D on the other side of the track will becontinuous with the stationary rails of the main track A, as shown inFig. 5, and a train or car can move along from the main track O to thesiding E on one side, or in the reverse direction over said tracks, orfrom the main track A to the sidingD on the other side, or in thereverse direction over said tracks.

A very important feature of my invention is that no special rails arerequired with which to make the switch and that after the rails havedone duty as a switch they can be used in a main or side track.

lVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with the stationary rails of a main track andsiding, of a sliding switch consisting of main and side rails connectedtogether by cross-bars and mechanism for bringing the movable rails witheither of their free ends opposite and adjacent to the ends of either ofthe stationary rails, all as set forth.

2. In combination With the rails of the main stationary track, the railsof a siding diverging from one side of the track, the sliding switchconsisting of the main track 0, the side track D on the opposite side ofthe track from the stationary siding, bars connecting the movable rails,and mechanism for bringing the movable rails with either of their freeends opposite and adjacent to the ends of either of the stationaryrails, all as set forth. In testimony whereof I have signed my name tothis specification, in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses, this2d day of October, A.D. 1889.

LYMAN M. GARFIELD. Witnesses:

Gno. C. STOKES,

G. B. KEYEs.

